


Amas Veritas

by shanivoneverec



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Mild Blood, Pre-Relationship, Wish Fulfillment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26590093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shanivoneverec/pseuds/shanivoneverec
Summary: Adora never wants to fall in love.---Based off the film Practical Magic (1998).
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 117





	Amas Veritas

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off Practical Magic (1998) because I love that movie and I'm trying to get into the Halloween spirit. Yes, I know I'm early. 
> 
> -plays Crystal by Stevie Nicks-

Adora is eight years old when she and Glimmer sit it on one of Aunt Casta’s “consultations” for the first time. They’re perched on the staircase, just far back enough in the shadows where they know they won’t be noticed.

“I don’t understand; you told me he proposed. You said the wedding planning was going splendidly, and I know because I distinctly remember you turning down my offer to help decorate.”

“It _was_ going splendidly,” the other woman answers, and Adora can see her shadow pacing back and forth in front of the table. “But now he’s staying later at work, and he won’t answer my calls. He’s even turned the GPS on his phone off so I can’t see where he is.”

“Perhaps there’s some other explanation,” Casta tries to soothe the other woman as she pulls out her spellbook. “A surprise for the wedding?”

“You know he’s not like that,” the woman snaps. “He hates surprises. We even discussed the proposal before it happened. No, the only reason he’d be keeping secrets is because he _knows_ he’s doing wrong.”

“Alright, alright, but please consider an alternative. These spells…they take their toll on the mind after so many doses.”

“Is this one gonna go crazy, too?” Glimmer whispers to Adora, who shrugs. This might be their first time listening in, but they’ve heard stories from Aunt Casta about overeager or impatient clients elevating their dosages or the dosages given to their loved ones until someone loses their mind. The mortal body can only take so much magic at a time.

“I don’t care,” the woman huffs, stepping closer to the table so that the girls can finally see her. Adora is haunted by the look in her eyes, the absolute unhinged need and longing. She wonders if there’s darker magic at play here. 

Cautiously, the woman takes a small blade from the table and positions it over her thumb. “I _need_ him to want me. So much he can’t bear the thought of ever losing me.”

Glimmer hides her face in Adora’s neck as the woman slices her thumb, gasping as drops of blood roll down her palm and fall onto the table below. Casta immediately reaches out to help, directing the woman so that the blood deposits into a small vial.

“Take a seat while I mix the potion,” Casta instructs. “And clean the wound with this,” she says, holding out a wet cloth. The woman takes it and backs away, back into the shadows where Adora and Glimmer can no longer see her.

Glimmer turns back to Adora, and clearly notices how pale and disgusted the young girl looks now.

“You okay?” she asks.

Adora shivers, leans into Glimmer with a sigh.

“I hope I never fall in love.”

\- - -

“You will hear my call a mile away,” Glimmer hears her friend say in the garden outside. They usually stay up late when Adora comes to visit, especially when they stay at Aunt Casta’s – who sleeps like a rock, allowing them to get into all sorts of shenanigans.

But Adora is up later than even Glimmer is used to.

Rubbing her eyes, Glimmer steps outside, wobbling slightly as her eyes adjust to the moonlight.

“You’ll give the warmest, softest hugs,” Adora says. Glimmer notices a bowl in her arms, and she’s picking rose petals from Casta’s garden. Glimmer hopes Aunt Casta doesn’t notice, knowing how protective she is of her roses.

“What are you doing?”

“Summoning up a true love spell…called Amas Veritas,” Adora answers, picking another white petal.

“You will have a strong heart and pure soul. You’ll be fiercely loyal and brave. You’ll always know how to make me laugh. And,” she starts, frowning at a shriveled brown petal, letting it fall through her fingers. She replaces it with a prettier one. “..Your favorite food will be applesauce.”

Glimmer snorts behind her, and Adora spares her a small smile before returning to her task.

“And you’ll have one yellow eye…,” she drops the petal in her basket, then picks another one, “…and one blue.”

She hears Glimmer hum behind her.

“That’s specific.”

“I have to make it specific,” Adora turns to Glimmer, “in order for it to work.”

“What do you mean? I thought you didn’t want to fall in love.”

“I don’t,” Adora smiles wryly. “But the person I’m dreaming about can’t possibly exist. And if they don’t exist, I won’t lose my mind trying to find them.”

Glimmer tilts her head, and Adora thinks she means to say something, but they both fall silent as Adora finishes collecting her petals.

They approach the balcony together, and Adora holds the bowl up to the heavens. She closes her eyes, afraid at first that she’s still too inexperienced for this to work. The petals lay dormant for several seconds, and both she and Glimmer remain almost completely still. Then, as a gentle gust of wind blows through her hair, a petal begins to float above the rest.

Adora can hear as Glimmer starts breathing again, and the two girls watch in awe as, one by one, the petals all start to float – dancing around each other as they spin higher and higher into the air. Like small, white butterflies, they flutter off into the moonlight, leaving Adora cold and lonely despite not actually being alone.

“Where are they going, then?” Glimmer asks curiously, taking Adora’s hand.

Adora watches as the last of the petals fade from view. She squeezes Glimmer’s hand.

\- - -

Catra comes up here sometimes to think. Her foster mother can’t find her here, not even with her dark, twisted magic. The roof is out of her reach: a safe haven of silence and city lights that burn away memories of the hungry shadows that follow Catra in that evil house.

She’s alone up here. She’s fine with that.

Most of the time.

Catra shivers, curling into herself as the wind howls and car horns blare far off in the distance. It all sounds the same to her, reminding her that she can’t hide from the reality of her life. She’s surrounded by people, though she feels increasingly lonelier by the day. She’d give anything to get away from it all – escape Shadow Weaver and sneak off to the ocean, even though she hates water, or perhaps a secluded cave in the mountains. She’d raise some cats there – _all_ the cats – and grow an herb garden and brew herself some tea over an actual fire. She’d sleep under the stars and make wishes. She’d be free.

Catra closes her eyes, feeling them ache and grow wet with every impossible thought. She’s quickly broken out of her melancholy when something lands on her nose, making her sneeze.

“What -,” she says, rubbing at her nose. Her eyes, one blue and one yellow, grow wide as a current of rose petals begin to descend around her. The first one, the one that landed on her nose, rests softly on her palm. She pokes at it curiously, eyes narrowing.

The others land around her, creating a border of protection around her bare feet. A few fall into her hair, and she hunches over warily, though she makes no effort to free them.

Instead, Catra sits there, surrounded by white rose petals in the middle of concrete fields and starless skies, and feels an unfamiliar sensation of peace wash over her.

She closes the one petal in her palm, places it next to her heart, and she can’t escape the feeling that, somehow, she’s been found.


End file.
